[All] Part 3: Critical Habitat identification issues across Ontario

[Louisette Lanteigne]

Part 3 of 3. 

Lulu

--- On Thu, 5/12/11, Louisette Lanteigne <butterflybluelu at rogers.com> wrote:

From: Louisette Lanteigne <butterflybluelu at rogers.com>
Subject: Re: Critical Habitat identification issues across Ontario
To: "justin duncan" <jduncan at ecojustice.ca>, commissioner at eco.on.ca
Date: Thursday, May 12, 2011, 12:18 PM

Hello Mr. Duncan and Mr. Miller

Currently in the City of Kitchener, we are dealing with two projects that are encroaching upon known Jefferson Salamander Habitats. One is the road extension at Hidden Valley, and the other involves a proposed subdivision in Doon South. 

In the city of Waterloo I addressed these same issues during OMB appeal PL071044 in regards to the West Side Lands and impacts on rare birds and amphibians in the area. 

In regards to Mount Nemo Quarry Expansion in Burlington, they are dealing with the same issues involving Jefferson Salamanders and the Highland Quarry Proposal in Melancthon has Henslow Sparrows and Bobolinks that are not being adequately protected.

The baseline flaw in all these cases is that there is currently no legislation mandating the time frame of when species mapping is required for critical
 habitat protection. Often time the municipalities try to placate the public stating they are working with the MNR but in the end, the critical mapping is simply not done prior to approval. I would like to change this and I would like to know what I can do to help facilitate this change. 

I'm wondering if the EBR can be used for this purpose or if perhaps a class action lawsuit is possible. 

Personally I've spent $27,000 + and countless hours of my life facing many incidence of duress trying to secure compliance to provincial laws to protect confirmed threatened and endangered species in the West Side Lands area. I begged the MNR for years to get involved well before municipal approvals were given and I've got the emails to prove it. 

I known many citizen based groups fighting for the same thing including PERL in Burlington and NDACT in Melancthon and Friends of Hidden Valley in Kitchener. We as concerned citizens should not have to
 pay out of pocket to assure compliance to provincial and federal laws to protect the habitats of these CONFIRMED species on site but that is exactly what has been happening for years because the MNR has failed to reasonably delineate critical habitats. Is a class action lawsuit possible? If so I want in. I'm tired of fighting the exact same battle over and over again.

Louisette Lanteigne
700 Star Flower Ave.
Waterloo Ontario
N2V 2L2
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